Sharks' Logan Couture disappointed not to make Team Canada for Olympics

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — The previous 24 hours had just delivered a double dose of bad news to Sharks forward Logan Couture and that only had to compound the disappointment.

First came Monday's decision to have surgery to fix a hand injury and that meant he would be out of the lineup an estimated three to four weeks. Then Tuesday morning he got the call informing him that he was not being named to Team Canada -- and that the decision was not related to his injury.

"It's pretty, pretty disappointing to not make that team," said Couture, who was considered a lock at one point by analysts familiar with the Team Canada process. "I thought I did everything I could to put myself up there. I mean, it's Team Canada. It's an impossible team to pick."

Couture got the call from Team Canada general manager Steve Yzerman himself. Even with the surgery, Couture could have been named to the team and later replaced because of the injury, but the Sharks forward said Yzerman told him he didn't make the team simply because there were better players available.

"I have a biased opinion," Couture acknowledged, "but I felt I should have been on that team. I've been left off a lot of teams in my past. Hopefully I can prove people wrong going forward."

Couture was not chosen for Canada's entry in the World Junior Championship when he played with the Ottawa 67s and he has cited that as motivation to succeed.

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"Exactly," he said. "That's what I'm going to do. That's the only way you can deal with something like this — don't dwell on it, use it as motivation and go forward."

Couture said the injury occurred three or four weeks ago and the idea was to get it taken care of now rather than it be a bigger problem later.

"I wasn't practicing, had to numb it for games," he said, without going into the specific problem. "It just got to the point where I couldn't do that for the entire season. We figured we wanted to be back for the end of the year, so we timed it this way."

The surgery was timed to the Olympic break, he added, because that provides an extra three weeks to heal if necessary.

The Sharks have been hit hard by injuries at forward with five other players out with injuries or the flu.

"It's tough," Sharks captain Joe Thornton said of the loss of Couture. "He plays so many key minutes for us. I think we're probably going to have to, by committee, get those minutes and step up in his absence. I'm not sure how long he's going to be out for, but it's going to be a huge blow for us."